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\n\tThis summer\u2019s glowing box office numbers have put smiles on Hollywood\u2019s corporate faces, if also a hint of concern. The message: The mythic summer blockbuster is alive and well, but is someone missing from the party?<\/p>\n
\n\tOn one level, the soaring return of Universal\u2019s Jurassic brand and Warners\u2019 Superman<\/a> brand represent triumphs in Hollywood archeology. And the techie giants are in hot pursuit: F1<\/a> marks a brilliant breakthrough for Apple, and Amazon MGM before long will be unfurling a new Bond.<\/p>\n \n\tBut in eons past the \u201csummer hits\u201d that stirred cinephiles represented as much a voyage of discovery as a branding mission. The \u201cmust see\u201d movies of summers past included an American Graffiti (1973) or a Dog Day Afternoon (1975) or a Stand By Me (1986). They were surprises, not pre-sold commodities.<\/p>\n \n\tEven The Godfather (1972) and Jaws (1975) arrived in a mist of confusing rumors. Both were behind schedule and over budget and endured post-production crises under filmmakers who had little experience with studio productions. Their meteoric success, to be sure, set Hollywood on a new course: Why not aggressively create the summer blockbuster rather than wait for the unexpected?<\/p>\n \n\tRELATED: The Movies That Have Made More Than $1 Billion At The Global Box Office<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIn their quest, the studios began to stumble: In their zeal, they realized they occasionally were making the same movie over and over again. Deep Impact and Armageddon opened weeks apart in 1998 with similar plots about Earth being assaulted by space objects, for example. The blockbuster derby had run out of ideas.<\/p>\n \n\tSo the hits of summer 2025 again raise the big question: Who is going to develop and finance the next cycle of prospective surprises? And how will the public discover them?<\/p>\n \n\tA search through the current list of non-branded openings and finding their showtimes requires patience. While a few releases establish a buzz on the festival circuit, most arrive behind a curtain of anonymity. Disaster looms.<\/p>\n